Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Cat's Nine Lives

Australian model Catherine McNeil looks set for a long-awaited career resurgence with two stunning September 2012 editorials photographed by industry heavy hitters Terry Richardson and Mario Testino. McNeil returns to fine form in front of Richardson's lens for China Vogue and alongside Sigrid Agren in a lust-ridden ménage-a-trois scenario for Testino and Allure magazine. It seems only fitting that McNeil has returned to the winner's circle championed by Testino, who was instrumental in alerting the industry to McNeil's star potential during the early stages of her career. In 2007, Testino signed McNeil to an exclusive six month contract, photographing the then newcomer for V Magazine, Paris Vogue and American Vogue amongst others. In recent years, McNeil has gone through significant changes including a switch of management from Next Models to Ford before settling at Marilyn Model Management. McNeil remains one of my favourite faces of the current generation and represents to me the supermodel aesthetic of years gone by. McNeil's physical transformation replete with numerous visible body art and a chin grazing bob, add an element of edge and street cred that were previously lacking from the Australian beauty's arsenal.